Posts Tagged ‘Gandhi Jayanti’

Swati Deshpande | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; October 2, 2009)

Mumbai: Three-and-a-half months after he was arrested for allegedly raping his maid in his own bedroom, actor Shiney Ahuja won bail from the Bombay high court on Thursday after his lawyer argued that there were inconsistencies in the rape complaint. He was, however, asked to leave Mumbai and stay in Delhi until he is required for the trial.

The 36-year-old actor’s jail stay will not end for at least another day. As the court order and the subsequent paperwork was not complete by the end of office hours and thanks to the holiday for Gandhi Jayanti on Friday, Shiney will finally step of Arthur Road jail only on Saturday, said his lawyers.

Apart from setting a bail amount of Rs 50,000 and a surety of the same amount, Justice A P Deshpande said the actor should surrender his passport and warned him against offering inducement to witnesses, directly or indirectly, and tampering with evidence.

I had stated in my talk no 22 as to how youth-oriented films have a great chance of succeeding at the BO since the young constitute almost 60-70% of the moviegoing audience. Thus, there are loads of expectations from Wake Up Sid (WUS), that is all set to release tomorrow. It seems Ranbir Kapoor had made an unintentional norm to release his films on public holidays! WUS releases on Gandhi Jayanti while Ranbir’s previous films, Saawariya (2007) and Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008) were released on the day of Diwali and Independece Day respectively!

A lot of ‘firsts’ are associated with WUS, produced by Karan Johar. It is the first time that a KJo produced film is shot entirely in Mumbai. All the rest of KJo films were shot abroad (except Kaal but it wasn’t filmed in the city). This is the first film of Karan Johar that would be distributed by UTV Motion Pictures and not by Yash Raj Films (had stated this point in talk no 51). The music isn’t larger than life and the film is made on a low budget, unlike other Johar’s grand films!

The promos of this film are rocking and indicate perfectly as to what the film is all about. The plus point of WUS is its plot which is very relevant and the character of Sid is extremely relatable. In short, half of the battle is won! That’s because characters where almost everyone can identify with manages to strike a chord with the audiences. Taare Zameen Par, for instance, worked big time as it wonderfully executed the separation anxiety faced by a child when separated from his parents for a brief period of time. Everyone must have faced such a situation at least once during their childhood and hence, the film was loved a lot. Similarly, WUS also has high chances of impressing the audience.
The Ranbir Kapoor-Konkona Sen Sharma pairing, though unconventional, manages to rock! In fact, both are top performers and look wonderful together. I am dying to see them as a pair as I appreciate both of them a lot! Couple of months back, somebody on a social networking website had wrongly stated that WUS is a love story of a younger handsome hunk and an older not-so-beautiful woman. Unfortunately, the rumour spread far and wide and director Ayan Mukherjee had to give his word about the rumour. He also made a clapworthy dialogue, “Who says Konkona is not beautiful?” I agree with him completely. Konkona looks stunning and has given wonderful performances, for which she has also won many awards and accolades. Mark my words-Konkona will pitch in an excellent performance in WUS!

With such a strong buzz about the film, it is definitely going to take a good opening in the metros. However, it may not find many takers in the small centres. Let’s hope WUS works, provided it’s a well-made film!

Do Knot Disturb (DKD), on the other hand, may see a better opening than WUS. The Govinda-David Dhawan combo has worked well in the past and there are tremendous expectations from DKD. Which film are you interested in? Do let me know!—————————–WHY ISNT SANJAY GUPTA PROMOTING ACID FACTORY?

Marketing and publicizing a film is very important, especially in the current scenario, where so many films are releasing week after week. But still, some filmmakers don’t care and ultimately, their movie flops due to no hype. I fear that something similar can happen with Acid Factory, produced by Sanjay Gupta and directed by Suparn Verma. There has been very little promotion of the film and I can hardly see its promos on TV. With just 8 days to go for the film (its releasing next Friday, October 9), Gupta and his team should be aggressively promoting their film.

Most of the promos are just released on the net, which is not a good thing to do as majority of people have a better access to television then to the internet. The new theatrical trailer of the film is fabulous and it really looks like an excellent stylish thriller. I have uploaded the promo below-do not miss it! And let’s hope better sense prevails and that we can see and hear more of Acid Factory in the coming days!

Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll are archaic catchphrases for today’s youth. The ‘flower power’ gen has aged, and how. So, RIP Woodstock. Abstinence is the new ‘orgasm’ and work, a lil’ fun and dollops of pragmatism are the new ‘it’ words.

But surprise surprise! While modern values have taken a backseat, it is traditional Indian culture and even Gandhi-isms that have emerged as talking points. Can you imagine today’s hot young star Ranbir Kapoor asking a nation to ‘wake’ up on October 2nd (Gandhi Jayanti) just like “Gandhiji had woken up a nation earlier.” In fact, he and Karan Johar have even planned the release of his new movie on that date. Because, like Ranbir told us, “The one thing that can immediately wake up an entire nation today are a combination of achievement, success and chemistry!” Yes, chemistry … It was Karan who first coined the newest catchphrase of all —‘conversational chemistry’. Of course, we’d heard of physical chemistry and mental compatibility; but ‘conversational chemistry’ as the buzzword for today’s youth? “When I cast Konkona and Ranbir in my new film, Wake Up Sid, a question everyone asked me was ‘How come you cast two people who are so unlike each other?’ And my reply was, ‘They may have diferent demographics and followings and different places in the sun, but when they talk to each other it’s like bulbs lighting up in the mind. A kind of kickstarting of the grey matter and a feeling of joy we feel when we are stimulated in the mind. And don’t think dirty, but all pleasure lies in between — the ears, really. So if you have great, stimulating, intoxicating, drug-inducing conversation, it is the equivalent of great sex and great relationships — that is ‘conversational chemistry’!”

Ranbir agrees with KJo. “What truly wakes you up is stimulating conversation. Everything else follows later. Today’s youth want to be mentally stimulated. They keep away from harmful substances to a great extent and are more focussed on what they want. They are more practical yet emotional in a way about a few things — and love is one of those things.”

So did he share that crackling conversation with galpal Deepika? “That’s a personal equation. What we share is the chemistry of two people. If we discuss it, it’ll become inclusive of more than two, so let’s not,” smiled the Kapoor.

While it was confirmed last week itself that Ram Gopal Varma’s much hyped and already in controversy Rann would be releasing in the month of October, the latest piece of news that has just come in is that 2nd October has been locked in as D-day for the film’s release. Considering the fact that the film comes with a volatile theme and is expected to boast of a power house drama, a Gandhi Jayanti release is obviously not just a coincidence.

“The world knows that 2nd October was the day when the Father of the Nation was born. He taught the world the power of tolerance. Now on the same day, Rann will show the world something that will make them lose their faith in this blinded tolerance to each and everything”, comes a very strong statement from an insider who wished to be unnamed.

With Rann already been in controversy due to it’s theme track ‘Jana Gana Rann‘, isn’t it’s 2nd October release adding fire to the fuel?

“To each his own”, says the source, “Why don’t we also look at the business angle of affairs. Any film would like to come over a long weekend and with 2nd October being a Friday (a National holiday), the film is already looking at an extended weekend. Which film won’t want to arrive in such productive time frame?”

However, one can’t deny the fact that by choosing 2nd October as D-day, Rann has made a smart move by making quite a few other films do a rethinking around their release strategy. With this Ram Gopal Varma film being one of the biggest to arrive this year, what with a power packed star cast spear headed by Amitabh Bachchan and well aided by others like Riteish Deshmukh, Paresh Rawal, Sudeep, Rajat Kapoor, Gul Panag, Neetu Chandra, Rajpal Yadav and Mohnish Behl, it is only bound to create ripples amongst other production houses that may be looking at bringing their film over the stated weekend.

Says a member of Rann, “The film has been shaping up exceedingly well and it will not just wake you but shock you. And please, it is not an out and out political drama per se, as is being speculated by a few out there. In fact that’s just one part of it. Believe me, when you will walk out of the film, you won’t want to move on to doing something else. Instead you will want to sit down and put your thinking cap on to retrospect on the drama that just unfolded.”

Though Ram Gopal Varma was unavailable for comment, the know-how of the industry are quite sure that he won’t miss the opportunity of bringing his topical Rann on 2nd October.